Girls of War

After a night of surprisingly peaceful rest - Aya rose in her small, built-in bed as she looked around. It was dark, but the timed light fixture secured into the ceiling of her room came on - a sign that she knew fully that she was on track to meet the day. Just as he was going to gather her flip flops and towel to take a shower - Captain Kirari came around to all of the rooms belonging to Aya and the other shōjo of the Special Unit: Sakura Kamikaze, knocking on each with polite conviction.

“Before any of you explore the authorized premises of the civilian and strictly military sides of the terminal and moon base - you’ll need to listen to me, and listen carefully because I’ll only be saying this once: in exactly two weeks, you’ll all be placed into the slim, almost spearhead-like, suicide drop-ships in the name of committing seppuku for the DDA - thus letting you all save face and atone for your sins.”

Aya and the other shōjo of both the Yamato and gaijin varieties were gathered in the main barracks hallway in various states of dress and undress - some with panties and bras on, some fully naked, some in garters, and some in their new uniforms. Yet what all of them caught onto was the fact that there was less conviction in Captain Kirari’s voice - it was almost as if in this far less public setting, she was skeptical of what she was saying. With that, Aya looked around, seeing Yumeko not too far from her, waving quietly and smiling. Just when Aya thought that the briefing was over, Captain Kirari took what seemed to be a pained breath, before looking at all of the other shōjo and continuing.

“Your target will the Chinese-North Korean-Russian lead, ECAP main settlement known as the ‘Red Gobi Desert’ - and the action has been codenamed Operation Divine Typhoon. The Deutsche and Yamato contingents of the DDA Military Forces will be acting as the breaching and storming formations for the operation, so it might be best to brush up on the other language if you’re not familiar with it, or both languages for some of you. None of you standing here will be returning - and it’s estimated that total casualties will be at least half a million. As such, are there any questions?”

Amelia raised her hand, characteristically a bit animated as she demonstrated her eagerness to ask her question.

“Yes?”

Captain Kirari said while acknowledging Amelia, as all eyes turned to the magenta haired “Valley Girl” shōjo.

“Like, what’s so special about this ‘Red Gobi Desert’ place!?”

Amelia asked - perhaps not in the most refined manner, but nonetheless in a way that was honest to say the very least. The Deutsche and Yamato shōjo couldn’t deny that despite her American mannerisms, she was indeed asking an important question - and so Captain Kirari answered with the same consistent hesitancy and nervousness which she was doing her best to hide - as she had so far in the barracks walkway briefing.

“Not only is the ‘Red Gobi Desert’ the nerve center of military and political operations for the ECAP in terms of their interplanetary capabilities - it’s also their crown jewel settlement, populated by well over one million inhabitants, with civilians vastly outnumbering military personnel there. Therefore, the Joint High Command of the DDA Military Forces estimate that the success of Operation Divine Typhoon could spell an end to the war in favor of the DDA.”

Captain Kirari then looked to all of the gathered shōjo and nodded to them slowly. Aya simply held her hand over her mouth, whilst Yumeko came up behind her and held her gently. Amelia’s mouth dropped open, unable to speak like so many of the other shōjo in arms. Kiyoharu held themselves for comfort, taking soft, controlled breaths. The weight of the matter, the weight of the war - there cost of what they were being tasked to give their lives for - was now made fully apparent - and it showed on the faces and in the body language of all of the shōjo there except for two: one who had somehow gotten permission and/or had chosen to ignore conflicting orders and regulations, Erika - a a Deutsche Mädchen with neck length, pointed blonde hair and blue yes, who wore a tight and waist short, desert tan Wehrmacht (specifically a Deutsche Afrika Korps) jacket with Generalfeldmarschall rank insignia, as well as a corresponding green Wehrmacht visored cap with the appropriate rank identifications in its design - who simply stood stoically, crisply saluting Captain Kirari with her right hand, which had a tight, lightweight, short, black leather glove, once Kirari had finished speaking. 

The other was a Yamato Shōjo of Aya’s height and build, who curiously took on the gaijin name, Alice who was chuckling creepily, showing her full rows of pointed, sharpened teeth, along with her neck length, bobbed-cut, very light yellow-green hair with deep purple highlights, and yellow-green eyes. Alice stood there in her uniform that was just as short, tight, and pressed as all of the other shōjo who had theirs on too, were, while her unnerving chuckling turned into a sharp toothed smile that was too strange not to be completely genuine. Erika looked at Alice after retreating her crisp salute, with a stern expression on her face that said more than actual words themselves could. Aya and Yumeko looked at each other as if to try and see if the other knew how to react, while Kiyoharu sighed and shook their head.

The solemnity hung in the air for only a moment - with Captain Kirari being the first to leave the area, making her way to the sake bar that was nearby in the public terminal area that the group of shōjo had made their way through. As Kirari sat down and waved politely, as she was then given a bamboo masu cup to drink her stresses and sorrows away. As she laid her beret down on the counter that she sat at, her tears fell softly into her sake as she weeped silently and with dignity. Among the shōjo of the Special Unit: Sakura Kamikaze who stood there in the barracks area, the reactions were as numerous as themselves - some retreating to their rooms, others speaking amongst themselves in mostly German, Japanese, and English. Aya turned to Yumeko, hugging her tightly as she looked up at Yumeko - shock pervading through both them to the point that tears couldn’t even penetrate their physical reactions. Aya the spoke up, breaking the silence whilst maintaining their tender embrace.

“Could we - see if there’s an otaku store, like the kind back in Akihabara (Akiba)? I’d like to buy some drawing materials and - wait - money…….we don’t have any Yen on us.”

Just as Aya was about to despair - she felt a hard but fun slap on her back!

“Hey! What was that for!?”

Yumeko blurted out before Aya could react, whilst Alice was giggling and showing her sharp, perfectly even shark-like teeth, flashing a card that looked like a credit card, but instead was red, pink, and white digital camouflage in its pattern, with a “DDA” printed in the center.

“Hehe! All you have to do is go to that machine over there - the one that looks like an ATM. Type in your information and it’ll give you one of these - they include special DDA Military Forces currency that we can only use on interplanetary bases! And you’re an otaku too!? I make visual novels myself - ultra ecchi and eroge ones with an exclusively yuri flavor. Hence, that’s why I’m here - as according to the Laws for the Collective Social Morality and Sexual Health of the Populace of the DDA - I was spreading corrupting ideas, but so be it - I’m really good at that!”

Aya and Yumeko both blinked - shocked, grateful, and intrigued all the same. This time, it was Aya who would speak up, smiling at and then hugging Alice - which shocked her, though Alice didn’t resist in the least.

“It was my dream to be a mangaka! I suppose that I might as well use these two weeks to both make friends and fulfill my dream as best I can! This is Yumeko, by the way - she’s a Special Unit: Sakura Kamikaze Launch Control and Munition Technician. I’m here for well - having yuri relationships when I was at the University of Tokyo as an Undergraduate Student, and at Kyoto University as a Graduate Student because of that same overarching set of laws.”

Aya said, letting go of Alice and giving her space - there wasn’t anything else that had to be said on why they were there, as virtually every one of the Yamato and gaijin shōjo who were in their barracks areas, save for Yumeko, had been sentenced their for that reason. No sooner than Aya had finished speaking, had Erika and Kiyoharu had made their respective ways over to them, as well as Amelia who followed along shortly after seeing this small group of fast friends, form.

“Say - if it’s all the same, could we join you too? I’m an otaku myself - though of bth the yaoi and yuri variety.”

Kiyoharu said as they fidgeted with their comically short uniform skirt to attempt to conceal their more than impressive endowment - otherwise the one giveaway about them. Erika then snapped her finger politely, having been thinking whilst the others were conversing.

“That’s great and all - but it’s that sort of otaku material that landed us here, how will we get access to it?”

Erika asked with her light, effeminate German accent - genuinely concerned but also with more than a hint of optimism. Like the others, she’d been sent here for the exact same reason, and just as that question lingered in the air - Amelia stepped forward with a brochure in hand that had been taken from a small, neatly kept rack nearby with many more of them.

“Well like - the brochures on that rack over there say that because we’re members of the Special Unit: Sakura Kamikaze - and they say that we’re like, totally allowed to buy whatever we want as long as it’s in an approved location. So, what the proper authorities don’t know, won’t like, hurt them!”

Amelia said as she blushed and peaked up from the brochure as she giggled in a a cute, girly manner. Aya, Yumeko, Alice, Erika, and Kiyoharu all looked at each other - no words needing to be said between them. They knew that as long as the materials that they needed were available for purchase with their special cards, then they’d be able to draw and otherwise create some “less than legal” otaku entertainment for themselves. With that, each of the shōjo in the new friend group that needed a special card went over to the ATM type machine that Alice had pointed out and explained. Once they were all set, Aya turned to Yumeko.

“Do you have to be anywhere, or can you go with us?

Aya asked as Yumeko smiled down at Aya, nodding.

“Hai! Though I’ll have to keep an eye out for a Kendo store so that I can purchase a high quality bokuto. I guess that’a another part about me that you, and well you all know now too - in high school and when I was at Kyoto University - I was the President of the Kendo Club.”

Yumeko said as she blushed hard, all the while Aya and the others smiled and nodded, with Erika taking a characteristically Deutsche approach to expressing her approval - nodding and giving a crisp, swift salute to Yumeko.

The group of shōjo all looked at each other, taking in that they’d actually being going shopping as friends. It occurred to Aya, that like her, they’d all been given ranks when they accepted their punitive but presented as “redemptive” assignments into the Special Unit: Sakura Kamikaze. Yet it was another aspect of their new reality here that didn’t need to be stated out loud, as what did their ranks mean since they were on an assured course with death, an assured course to meet Izanami no Mikoto in the course of two weeks in the same manner as each other. 

Within a moment, all of the shōjo made their way as a group back out into the main retail, restaurant and terminal area. The next formation of shōjo like themselves wouldn’t be due to arrive until they had all been the recipients of the touch of seppuku from orbit, so for Aya and her new friends - it meant that there was time to enjoy the time that they had left. As they made their way into the main area, they noticed two things: there was no sign of where the Jirai Kei shōjo had had her brains shot out for trying to resist her judgement and her state-sanctioned fate, and there wretched ample places for the new group to hang out - all of their bihaku complexions lit up with excitement and blushes - their soon to be fates seemingly forgotten, at least for now. 

Aya turned to Yumeko, seeing that the main otaku store - the merchandise sanitized of any explicitly yuri and yaoi themes and showings - was right next to the Kendo store that Yumeko wanted to go to. As Alice, Amelia, Kiyoharu, and Erika went into the otaku store, Aya nodded to Yuemko with a smile as a coded gesture, before each shōjo went into their respective stores of interest. This was all seen by Captain Kirari, who was on her third serving of sake in her bamboo masu cup, nodded at the shōjo who were under her command. She couldn’t help but smile through her light tears, sipping her sake and acknowledging that the only main difference between her and them, was that she hadn’t been caught for having yuri relations when she was a student at the University of Osaka. Hence, she’d been able to commission as an Officer in the JSDF Component of the DDA Military Forces, instead of being commissioned and/or enlisted as a state-sanctioned sentence of seppuku.

“Enjoy life while you all can….”

Captain Kirari said to herself as she looked at the shōjo, sighing and smiling through her light, dignified tears. Meanwhile, Aya, Alice, Amelia, Erika, and Kiyoharu were having quite the time in the otaku store - Aya making sure to by paper, colored pens, colored pencils, whilst Alice bought software and other tech equipment to make visual novels with the time that she had left, whilst Amelia, Kiyoharu, and Erika just enjoyed themselves in the store, marveling at the posters products, and the overall joyous feeling of escapism. 

Next door, Yumeko was marveling at the many Katana variants - the blades shining in gleams against the lights of the store. Yumeko wasn’t going to purchase anything, but just being in such an environment brought her back to there Kendo Club President days. She smiled, then leaving - as there was no one to talk to in the store, since like the other stores but not the restaurants - the checkout sections were completely automated. As Yumeko was exiting the store - Aya, Alice, Kiyoharu, Erika, and Amelia were exiting the store that they were at, with Aya and Alice holding their colorful couple bags of merchandise each. Upon seeing each other, all of the shōjo reacquainted, and then headed out to eat, quickly deciding on a hibachi restaurant there, and as they were walking to it - taking in the lovely aromas and the traditional Yamato decor of the establishment. 

As they were walking to it, Captain Kirari passed them on the way to her quarters, sighing and smiling at the group once more as she then continued on. All any of them knew was that there was no time to waste when moments of escapism could still be had and enjoyed to the fullest.